Former Twins pitchers to coach charity softball game

September 6, 2013

The reopening of Corbett Field at Roosevelt Park in Minot following the 2011 Souris River flood will be commemorated Saturday at 2 p.m. with a charity softball game featuring former Minnesota Twins players as team captains and local police and rural firefighters as the players.

Tickets will be available at the gate priced at $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. Should the weather turn for the worse, though, the baseball game will be switched to basketball.

"We just got back on the field this summer," said Elly DesLauriers, the director of marketing and development at Minot Park District, of when the field was reopened.

Bill Campbell, who pitched for the Twins from 1973 to 1976; Tom Burgmeier, who pitched for the Twins from 1974 to 1977; and Terry Leach, who pitched from 1990 to 1991 and was a champion with the 1991 World Series team will all be in Minot to benefit several local organizations.

Those organizations are the Minot Fraternal Order of Police Cops and Kids youth programs, Minot Parks District Foundation, and Minot Rural Volunteer Fire Department training and equipment.

"The purpose of the foundation is promoting, developing and advancing all public parks owned by or under the control of the Minot Park District," DesLauriers said of the foundation that was created in 1994.

"You know, we're just going to play it by ear to see who shows up to play," Rex Weltikol, fire chief at Minot Rural Fire Department, said of the game itself. "Myself, I'll probably be out playing right field because it will probably be pretty quiet for me out there."

"It's going to be a good time. Hopefully the weather holds out," said Senior Officer Jason Bambenek of the Minot Police Department, who is also the president of the local F.O.P. chapter, the Souris Valley Regional Lodge.

"It's exciting to bring some players in that some in the community may recognize," he added.

The F.O.P. cops and kids program helps keep kids happy with such things as buying new things at the mall and other activities, and also helps out law enforcement officers in need, "whether it be floods or medical or anything," Bambenek said.

"We are excited because I think it's going to be a fun thing. We didn't get to be on the Globetrotters thing when they were there," Weltikol said. "We want to go out there and have a fun time and show the cops what we can do. I hope a lot of people come out to support it."